Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T13:09:17.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Waltz, Durkheim, and International Relations: The International System as an Abnormal Form

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

John Barkdull
John Barkdull
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing on Emile Durkheim's Division of Labor in Society, I offer a typology of international systems. Previous uses of Durkheim to describe international systems suffer a number of conceptual errors and therefore are at variance with the spirit and intention of Durkheim's work. A deeper reading of Durkheim usefully draws attention to the moral basis for society and thus the problems with defining international systems solely in terms of power distributions. Further, rereading Durkheim offers a much richer typology than the simple distinction between mechanical and organized societies, affording in turn fresh insights into change in the international system. The abnormal forms of the division of labor offer the best description of the contemporary international system.

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 669 - 680
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, Emanuel. 1991. “Cognitive Evolution: A Dynamic Approach for the Study of International Relations and Their Progress.” In Progress in Postwar International Relations, ed. Adler, Emanuel and Crawford, Beverly. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Ashley, Richard K. 1986. “The Poverty of Neorealism.” In Neorealism and Its Critics, ed. Keohane, Robert O.. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile. [1893] 1964. Division of Labor in Society. Trans. Simpson, George. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Larkin, Jeremy. 1994. “Representations, Symbols, and Social Facts: Durkheim in IR Theory.” Millenium 23:239–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggie, John Gerard. 1986. “Continuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward a Neorealist Synthesis.” In Neorealism and Its Critics, ed. Keohane, Robert O.. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1986. “Reflections on Theory of International Politics: A Response to My Critics.” In Neorealism and Its Critics, ed. Keohane, Robert O.. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1992. “Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory.” In The Evolution of Theory in International Relations. ed. Rothstein, Robert L.. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 1992. “Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics.” International Organization 46:391–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.